I met Cathy Hull two-score-and-5+ years ago when I started at the New York Times as Op-Ed page art director. She was doing very precise, “arduous” surrealistic conceptual illustrations, which was the prevailing style of the page. She did them very well. When I left the Times, I lost touch with her and her art. Next thing I knew, time had flown by, Trump was elected President of the United States, COVID gusted in and online media combusted bringing many “missing” back to life. I started seeing Cathy’s work on social media sites, it was politically witty in her use of well-known characters seamlessly grafted into famous paintings. I followed them with interest but never wrote about the work, and then four years passed by and a new leader was elected. Although Cathy continued to make art during the long aftermath of COVID, I did not pay attention until 2022 when the Republican/Maga monster garnered a 222 seat majority, and Trump was pulling the strings while looking forward to a 2024 campaign.
Cathy had pivoted from being an illustrator of other’s words to an artist-writer of her own ideas employing a new method with grit, wit, humor and a strong point of view. I never thought of her as a satirist but there was the evidence. It made me wonder what caused the pivot. So I recently contacted her and simply asked the question.
“It took a botched shoulder replacement which caused permanent damage and 24/7 nerve pain to my dominant hand for me to get there. I had to re-invent myself. I eked out a new style using Adobe Photoshop on the computer. A godsend for anyone with dyslexia, I might add. It was a lot of trial and mostly error, since I never took a course or learned the tools. No matter, it worked,” she replied.
In the interview (below) we dive into more detail. I enjoy learning about her journey from then to now, as much as I appreciate the art she is making now and for the foreseeable future.
At what point did you switch from what you call “(sur)realism” to montage and become so intensely political?
I have [the late New York Times art director] J.C. Suares to thank. I was fortunate to frequently work for him at the Times on the Op-Ed page. He became a mentor as well as a friend. One day, I have no idea why, he suggested I try my hand at collage. I did. Although it was freeing, I was most uncomfortable combining someone else’s images—and, frankly, I worried about copyright infringement. Those illustrations never made it into print. Regardless, it led me to another segue. My methodology and process changed. I’d start with an idea but then try to view it from different angles. The solution was not pre-fixed. I’d allow my creation to reveal itself to me as I rearranged the pieces in my mind and on the page, endeavoring to tap into a collective subconscious.
Ultimately, COVID was the real game changer. Like everyone else, I was working in a vacuum. My work, husband and our dog kept me happy and grounded. Breaking news and current events became my only source of inspiration and point of departure. I no longer felt the need to illustrate other people‘s words, I had found my voice. I began writing and illustrating my own books. I had come full-circle.
Art 101 of the Deal: Donald J. Trump Off the Wall and Art 2.0 of the Deal: Donald J. Trump Hits the Wall were written in lockdown. Art is cheaper than therapy, and you get pictures. Creativity allowed me to escape my confinement and, in effect, run away without ever leaving home.
I used to think that nothing and no one could be more driven than our insatiable food-motivated 85-pound Black Labrador, Hudson. I was so wrong. In fact, there’s no competition. MAGA supporters and Trump critics alike are focused, relentless and undeterred. As a professional freelancer, I illustrated many different and opposing viewpoints and topics without issue. I was able to simultaneously stay true to the author’s narrative and my viewpoint. Although not a fan of the Donald, I had never been particularly political. I am a registered Democrat, but have always put country over party and voted my conscience and values. The last nine years, two terms and two presidencies certainly changed my perspective. At first I was mildly interested in the man, then fascinated, and finally totally appalled yet fixated. It will come as no surprise to you, I now have a “terminal” full-blown case of TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome. Art 101 began in good faith, and was intended to reach across the aisle. By Art 2.0, I had begun to lose my objectivity. Jan. 6 propelled me back to the drawing board, illustrating the many watershed moments while desperately struggling to maintain my focus on 46, not 45, while writing #BIDENWON: The Art of Recovery (March 18, 2025). Shameless plug: It’s now available for presale on Amazon.
Your current work is reminiscent of the great anti-Nazi montages of John Heartfield. Has his work influenced your approach?
I am extremely flattered by the comparison. It is a quite a compliment to be compared to the consummate anti-fascist artist who pioneered using art as a political weapon. His 1934 photomontage of four bloody axes tied together to form a swastika captured the zeitgeist and still resonates today. But no, he did not directly influence me.
My idols in my earlier work were Tomi Ungerer, Saul Steinberg, George Grosz, M.C. Escher, Ingres, Botticelli and the Surrealists—particularly Magritte and Dali. Duchamp’s “readymades” (considered a precursor to conceptual art) challenged the traditional idea that artists must create original, handmade objects. The Dada pioneer’s 1917 Fountain piece, a porcelain urinal signed “R. Mutt,” upended centuries of thinking about the artist’s role. Ordinary often mass-produced objects could be elevated to works of art. The choice was the creative act. That concept impacted my work.
My use of iconic paintings is an intentional kind of shorthand. The viewer is meant to recognize them. These masterpieces have universal appeal. Beyond their artistic mastery, they have become global icons with shared meaning, instantly recognizable to people from all countries and walks of life. Open access to museums and the digital art challenges during the pandemic made it easier.
I have always loved Magritte’s juxtaposition of incongruous elements. Art is the willing suspension of disbelief. What’s wrong with this picture? An illustration is my idea of an inside joke shared by the artist with his or her audience. What has been added to or subtracted from the image to make a point? Therein lies the answer.
You’ve captured Trump’s excesses with acerbic wit. How do you determine what of Trump’s foibles to choose?
As I said, I am merely the medium, Donald is the message. My reactions to his words and deeds dictate my choices. I have tried to keep my “acerbic wit” and wit’s about me. When Donald, a running joke, became a sitting president, I was not laughing.
The greatest comeback since Lazarus, 47’s second coming and presidency of retribution is no laughing matter in my book. Every day I struggle to lighten up. I feel like “Chicken Little”—“the sky is falling”—and long for Candide’s “best of all possible worlds.”
Trump himself observed: “The first term, everybody was fighting me. In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.” It is important to me that I get off my high horse or soapbox. I am not interested in proselytizing. That’s just noise. No one is listening; no one cares. I want to reach people … preferably with humor. I’m having a really hard time. Unlike Norman Rockwell, America’s foremost illustrator and master communicator, I am unable to depict 47’s flaws and shortcomings with affection and a lighter touch. Rockwell succeeded in making that endeavor appear deceptively simple. His paintings of average Americans captured the public’s imagination. He knew how to keep people’s spirits up in tough times even though, ironically, his best work emerged during bouts of depression. He, rather than Goya or Francis Bacon, is prominently featured inside #Bidenwon and on the cover. …
Admittedly, I am addicted to fact-finding, a certifiable news junkie. Once the networks bowed to power and rolled over in response to Trump’s legal challenges, election endorsements were pulled at the behest of their self-interested billionaire owners, and fearful politicians and oligarchs capitulated—unable to stand firm in the face of intimidation and threats and bent the knee, kissed the ‘ring’ (or ass) at Mar-a-Lago in quick succession—I finally had enough. I stopped cold turkey. As tempted as I was to completely unplug and tune out like most of our friends after Jan. 20, I can’t just clutch my pearls. I have, however, given myself a break and permission to watch rom-coms at night and do Wordle in the morning.
[Now,] Trump and his acolytes are partying like it’s 1933. To hear a U.S. president parroting verbatim the words of Hitler, Göring and Himmler is positively chilling. America today is not the same country that my grandparents and parents, political emigrés from Nazi Germany, knew and revered. It can happen here. It is! This is personal. I cannot sit this one out.
There are not many publishing outlets for illustration, no less political commentary. How are your commentaries distributed?
That, exactly, is my problem. I now rely exclusively on social media, more specifically, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and theispot to show my work.
Is your goal to flood the zone with anti-Trump memes?
No! That is not my goal. The complicit mainstream media, Donald’s unwitting allies focused on his every move, have aided, abetted and enabled Trump to seize the narrative and rewrite history. He is the news. It was never my intention to flood the zone with protest images. But, paradoxically, given my attempts to point out that the Emperor has no clothes, it appears I am.
Trump fatigue began the day the wannabe candidate rode down the golden escalator. BC (Before COVID), my amazing art director on the Trump books, Larry Voigtsberger, had a huge job and no free time. He believed in my mission and, despite a full schedule, agreed to work with me remotely on those first two books. After 2020, he could not soldier on. No one wanted to allow 45 space in their heads! Even some of my closest friends refused to read my books. I got it, but was and am truly devastated. Was I just redefining insanity while preaching to a choir of one? Were my efforts futile? It didn’t matter. I couldn’t stop. Someone still has to draw the line.
Do you believe that memes have a lasting cognitive impact on viewers? If so, are they converts or stalwarts or both?
I do think memes are devastatingly effective. They are powerful tools for self-expression, impacting stalwarts and making converts. In our digital age, humans on average have an eight-second attention span. A visual soundbite is a solid strategy. And yet … in the “Mad Men” era, there were ingenious ads with memorable punchlines still in use today that proved unsuccessful. Nobody could or can remember the product.
Are there any taboos for your work?
My intent is to command attention with a single compelling image, or perhaps a diptych, and send a message. My content comes with a caveat: I must base my conclusions on facts—“the truth and nothing but the truth.” Other than that, I do not self-censor.
Today’s politically charged and divisive atmosphere is positively Orwellian. It’s a brave new world. “Others” now have the power to dictate and define what is “taboo.” AI has changed everything! Please note that although I recognize it is a valuable tool, I do not use AI in my illustrations and have found that it actually inhibits rather than assists me in my writing. We are not a good fit. I do use photos for reference and paintings for inspiration. All my images are reimagined and drawn, not AI-generated or Photoshopped in the pejorative sense of the word. I do, however, mentally “collage” the images and words to arrive at my final image and text.
In an attempt to repair its relationships with conservatives, Meta has stopped using third-party fact-checkers on Facebook, Threads and Instagram. All now rely on users to add notes to posts. Anyone can arbitrarily decide who is violating their terms of service. In my case, one such extreme self-proclaimed angry anti-Lib MAGA loyalist did just that. I took umbrage at the 50th vice president’s Munich summit “the enemy within” speech that voiced enthusiastic support for the far-right AfD German party and posted an anti-hate drawing in response. Vance himself once referred to Donald as “America’s Hitler.” The use of the unmistakable (offensive) Nazi Hakenkreuz armband, a volatile graphic and quintessential fascist symbol, for emphasis seemed particularly apt. The art that inspired my illustration “Der Bannerträger” (“The Standard Bearer”) by Hubert Lanzinger is in the United States Holocaust Museum. My image, post and 328 impressions were abruptly removed from the social media platform without my consent.
I recently completed jury duty. Time was limited; I had no alternative. I created and posted my work between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.—in quick succession, trying to reach out to my followers. Systems detected “unusual traffic” from my computer network. My work was shut down when the platform concluded I must be a robot.
In my opinion, Google and social media, in lockstep, are following MAGA guidelines. I was blocked on two of my three platforms in two disparate incidents for “bot-like behavior”: 1. Sharing to multiple groups; 2. Extensive use of the web for research; and 3. For content (the Vance drawing). “We found that your post doesn’t comply with our Professional Community Policies on hateful speech. It’s been removed.” So much for the First Amendment. I was silenced.
The Biden book was another rude awakening. My California publisher—the gold standard for art, architecture, landscape and design—prints in China. I am used to being edited but was not prepared to be censored. There is a highly controlled multilayered process dictating what content is acceptable for publication. The Government Press and Publication Bureau has a strict two-step review procedure; there is absolutely no room for negotiation. Ultimately, the process caused a seven-month delay in publication and distribution. Of course, it’s unlikely a political satire could avoid “red lines.” #BIDENWON was, however, not singled out. Five other non-political books were simultaneously held up as well.
Can you disclose the number of subscribers you have to your Substack where these images reside?
I would be greatly exaggerating if I said the number is, at best, extremely modest. Although I signed up for a Substack last July, I never actually set it up, posted or “restacked” until Jan. 6. There was no need. I had a website and my platforms. It was a project for a much later date and time. Once the social media blocks began, I had a sense of of urgency. I needed a reliable outlet.
Are these often powerful satires helping you get through the chaos of the Trump 2.0 era, or is it too soon to tell?
I so appreciate and thank you for saying that the satires are powerful. My art is my voice. If I could say it in words, I would have no need to draw. It has been said that art is either plagiarism or revolution. Throughout history, artists have used symbolism to communicate political ideologies, complex themes and cultural commentary. Cartoonists Barry Blitt, Ann Telnaes and Steve Brodner have a battle plan and are fearlessly leading the charge. I salute and support them and strive to advance our cause. Are the satires helping me see my way thought the chaos? Yes! My illustrations, the ability to express my thoughts, frustrations and speak my truth, definitely get me through Trump’s shock and awe sh*t “Sturm und Drang!” Am I making a difference? I am not sure. I really hope so.
Is there an end point for you? Is there a foreseeable moment or even a viable reason to end your Trumpexistance?
Not in the near future. Satire is not dead; it’s alive and well and living in the White House. With apologies to W.C. Fields, I once spent a year in D.C.; I think it was on a Sunday. I am cognizant today that tomorrow will be exhausting. There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full, and the book is running long.
“In America,” Thomas Paine wrote, “the law is king.” Trump and the richest man in the world have repeatedly and audaciously proven it is not. Jury duty, like paying taxes, is mandatory. There are no automatic exemptions or excuses from service in New York State. Everyone who is eligible must serve as long “as you have not been convicted of a felony.” I can’t reconcile the fact that a criminal can and did become president of the free world.
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